The social value of work experienced in the Pine Hills

Tuesday and Thursday mornings Ray Francis a 20–year-old Troy man can be found working at the Pine Hills CVS. He is recognizable by his bright white smile and bright white shell top Adidas.

In Pine Hills local businesses are training special education students on site through a program called the College Based Transition Experience. The Capital Region Board of Cooperative Educational Services and The College of Saint Rose are working together to provided school-to-real life transitional experiences to special education students.

In addition to their jobs at local businesses all the transition students attend one modified college class at Saint Rose and BOCES classes in Albertus Hall on the campus. Saint Rose students in the special education teaching program also get their own real world training by modifying curriculum and tutoring the transition students.

Eligibility for the transition program is limited to the highest functioning students. One of the criteria is that they not have a history of acting out or other disruptive behavior. In New York State all students are entitled to educational services until the age of 21. At this time they ‘age out.’

It is the goal of the College Based Transition Experience to provide some of the region’s special education students with both college experience and job training in order to prepare them for life after school.

There are nine students in the college based transition program. Their job skills training ranges from recycling and other jobs on the Saint Rose campus to working at CVS, Price Chopper, and the Pine Hills library. They take modified college course in subjects like sign language, art, music, and courses about special education subjects such as education for the severely disabled.

Back at the CVS as Francis is shelving hair care products a customer comes by and says “Hi Ray”, calling him by name. The part he likes about his job – putting things away. He refers to himself as a volunteer worker because he is not paid for his transition training, much like an internship. He also says he’s not a big talker.

Francis certainly is a hard worker. His usual partner is out on this day and Anna Ricchiuti, the supervisor at CVS, has prepared enough work for two. No problem, Francis does enough work for two people. The teaching assistant, Lucy Roberts, asked him several times if he wanted to take a break but Francis said “I want to keep working.”

A few days later Francis and Cassie Gaudetter, 21, can both be found amicably restocking drinks in the coolers at the back of CVS. Gaudetter is a petite blonde who looks about 14, not 21. She wears her CVS shirt proudly while she works. Her favorite drink in the cooler is Starbucks iced coffee.

Both students have learned practical skills while working at CVS. They know the store layout; they can use the pricing gun, and stock and face shelves. The students work well because they are interested in being there, Ricchiuti said.

Eileen Stefanowicz and Kaitlin Peck are transition students who work at the Madison Avenue Price Chopper which has participated in the transition program for the past eight years.

“The students come right here off the bus and work from 9:30 to 11:30,” said Rose Fantroy, the front end manager. They pack grocery bags and if customers decide not to buy a product the ‘volunteer workers’ return the item to the shelves by matching code numbers. This, Fantroy said, is an important skill but what they benefit most from is the social interaction.

Lyndsay Haynor is a former student of the transition program who used the skills she learned at Price Chopper to get a cashier job at Hannaford near her home in the East Greenbush school district. Pam Haynor, Lyndsay’s mother, gushed about the program. It was “incredible”.

Lyndsay was in 11th grade at Columbia High School. Other kids in her regular education classes made fun of her. She wasn’t eating all day at school. She was suffering and being bullied in part because of her size, she’s 4’7”.

The Haynors had actually taken Lyndsay out of school before they found out about the transition program. George Lorange, Capital Region BOCES lead special education teacher, said that they had to “strongly advocate” for Lyndsay with their home school district to get her into the program. In most cases the school district makes the recommendation for the transition program but in Lyndsay’s case her parent went to the school district and requested the service.

Haynor said it changed everything for Lyndsay. “It was so amazing. She was happy.” She couldn’t wait to get to school each day.

Working with the college students and her transition job at Price Chopper “helped me to open more; talk to people,” she said. The college students were very nice and she liked feeling close with her teachers. It felt like they were “family – close to each other,” Lyndsay said.

Tia Keane, 19, of the Scotia school district, and Gaudette, also work at Saint Rose recycling paper under the guidance of Lorang. Keane, who is the more talkative of the two makes certain both girls’ names are spelled correctly for this article “Tia that’s T-I-A and Cassie, C-A-S-S -I -E not Y.”

The two students worked hard and knew what needed to be done to collect recyclable paper from around the campus. The collected paper is then purchased by Green Fiber and made into insulation. Not only do the students profit from this experience but the college does as well.

Gaudette is scheduled to graduate from the transition program this spring. The program will have its own commencement ceremony early next month so that the supporting college students and staff can attend. She has not decided yet what she wants to do when she finishes the program but will receive guidance from her teachers.

Keane will graduate in 2013. She hopes to attend Schenectady Community College or the college and become a teacher herself. Over the summer she’d like to get a part-time job working at a CVS near her home in Scotia.

She tells of all the friends she has made while in the transition program. There are the other students in the program, friends in her college classes, and even friends made through tutoring and mini-courses.

In many cases special education students do not view themselves as having a disability. It is just who they are. Because they want to be seen as normal they are reluctant to discuss what others may see as ‘disabilities’. As with most people they just want to be accepted for themselves and to fit in.

Initially, the work experience may be the most beneficial to the transition students, or perhaps it may be the exposure to the college environment. But in the end the most important experience the transition program has to offer is that opportunity to fit in. The one thing that everyone: students, staff, teachers, and supervisors all agreed on is the immense social value of the transition program. As Keane said “The best part is the people.”

For more information on the College Based Transition Experience program contact George Lorang at, 518-469-1246 or lorangg@strose.edu. -30-

Kellie McGuire

One Response

Wow! This sounds like a great program. I’ve heard of school to work programs in my area, but they do not have the college component. It’s nice to hear that their are programs striding to make college and fulfilling work available to those with special needs. Thank You.

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